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The combination of population increases, a shaky economy and changes in working and living habits has led to a housing shortage in the UK. The Culture Show visits three locations in Europe to see how innovative new projects could offer solutions to Britain’s housing problem.

In rural Ireland, architect Dominic Stevens built his timber-framed house from scratch in 50 days – and for just 25,000 euros ($32,800). It has since become the flagship example of a self-build movement called Irish Vernacular.

In the Netherlands, Beatrice Galilee visits residents of a floating house development in Ijburg Amsterdam. Having lived with water for centuries, the Dutch are –unsurprisingly – leading the way in this new form of ‘aqua-tecture’.

And in Berlin, groups of potential house owners have been joining together as collectives in order to project manage and build homes together in a popular phenomenon known as Baugruppe.

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